Westministenders: The Virus

[RedToothBrush]

Its like living in a Bad Disaster B Movie.

If you thought Brexit on your TV every day was Bad, The Virus is a whole new level.

The 5pm broadcast with Johnson and friends, and the public infomation video with the unblicking Chris Witty (who has such unfortunate mannerism he makes me think he's me a Dr Who alien akin to the Slitheen).

Who knows what will happen. Just that everything has changed and our entire economy is now on life support whilst we figure out how to deal with the crisis and what on earth our exit strategy is.

Johnson has however refused to join a joint EU purchase scheme designed to assist countries through the crisis.

Meanwhile the US is about to go nuts... so what does that do to a trade deal?

More money for the NHS? More hospitals?

Well its possible that might just happen...

Taiwan are not in the WHO because of Chinese pressure
but they controlled their outbreak without excess authoritarianism
and with low numbers of deaths
Taiwan should not be ignored

Deputy CMO England, Dr Jenny Harries (did the recent MN Webchat):

Lockdown could go on for six months

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/29/uk-coronavirus-restrictions-could-last-six-months-deputy-chief-medical-officer

In other news: Locally police had to break up a kareoke party - 25 kids and adults.

Fucking morons.

I haven't been out since foodbank last Thursday.

Twats.

Taiwan have always been very cautious about infectious disease from China, especially in recent years.

Like the other countries in the regions, after being hit by previous epidemics like SARS,
Taiwan built up procedures and infrastructure to handle this

They created the tech systems to track people who were confirmed positive

They also have an excellent health service which is well resourced

Probably the most important:
they acted very early - banning flights from hotspots, testing, testing, testing and tracking
They followed the classic WHO advice, even if not a member

The longer a govt leaves it to act, the more draconian the measures they have to use

• because it has gone too far for what would have worked before

oh and Taiwan may actually have gone further than the WHO, by banning so many flights and so early

Three NHS doctors have died...RIP

Amged el-Hawrani

Adel el-Tayar

Habib Zaidi

 Coronavirus: Belarus president refuses to cancel anything - and says vodka and saunas will ward off COVID-19 http://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-belarus-president-refuses-to-cancel-anything-and-says-vodka-and-saunas-will-ward-off-coronavirus-11965396

Vodka and saunas sound like much more fun than lockdown. Let's hope he's right.

The virus will doubtless also find that vodka and saunas combine to make a nice environment to hang out in.

Negative impacts of China .... not engaging with Taiwanese ideas

The logistics of supporting 1 million vulnerable people to stay home for 12 weeks
.... and this doesn't fill me with confidence

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52084517

Mr Jenrick also provided more detail on how the government would shield the most vulnerable people in the country,
after more than a million people in the UK were told to stay at home for 12 weeks.
.....
On the subject of food parcels for the vulnerable, he added:
"The first 50,000 will be sent out by the end of this week.
And we are ramping up production to send out as many as are required for as long as it takes."

< hang on, how long to get round to the rest of the 1 million ? >

"Negative impacts of China ...."

being a brutal dictatorship that has murdered millions of its own people during its 70+ years of rule

I commented on that to dh. Based on that speed of delivery, the "shielded" would have starved to death by the time most of them got anything

EU citizens in UK at risk of becoming illegal as coronavirus response prioritised

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/mar/29/eu-citizens-uk-risk-becoming-illegal-coronavirus

Clara Angela di Stefano, an NHS intensive care nurse from Italy, said:

“In the next few months, migrants are going to save countless lives in NHS hospitals. Many of us will get sick, and some will die.

“We are proud to do this work.

But when this crisis is over, many thousands of EU migrants could lose their status here because the government has insisted on persisting with a broken application system.

Boris Johnson can solve this problem easily – by giving us a right to stay written into law.”

The government has already announced that the settled status processing service has been delayed by Covid-19

That might not go down well with his party, criticising the Blessed Margaret:

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-govt-says-lockdown-depends-on-behaviour-but-expert-says-it-should-last-til-june-11965226

Boris Johnson revealed 20,000 ex-NHS staff have returned to the service to help fight coronavirus -
as he used a video message from quarantine to contradict Margaret Thatcher.

"One thing I think the coronavirus crisis has already proved is that there really is such a thing as society,"
....
Johnson also thanked the 750,000 civilian volunteers who have come forward to help during the crisis,

Because I think the US terror of communism has done far more harm in the world than communism ever could have.

It's kind of a contemporary question, given recent UK events, as it seems fear of socialism appears to have done far more harm than socialism ever has .....
DGR

Very appropriate questions when applied to the US too.

Aer Lingus' first ever direct flight to Beijing returns with PPE that was jointly ordered by Stormont and Dublin.

This is the first of ten flights thanks to a deal worth €208m.

www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52085363

No Brexiteer is ever going to admit, under present circumstances, that the shortage in agricultural workers or any other workers in the UK has anything at all to do with Brexit.

It's going to be all because of COVID-19, after all look at worker shortages all over Europe (and eventually most of the world) due to border closures, lockdowns and illness. There will no doubt be many sad squirrels to point at.

This is a very important quasi-religious article of new (March 2020) faith, because the Willy of the People must not connect the dots between the original (June 2016 - Feb 2020) quasi-religious article of faith "Brexit will get rid of nasty uncontrolled immigrants what are stealing our jobs and homes and benefits and going around speaking foreign languages" and "Oops there's now a shortage of under-appreciated labour" and "Oh look, there's now a shortage of food/healthcare."

Coronavirus latest: US can expect 100,000 to 200,000 deaths

With Trump at the helm, that's probably a "good" result, enabled only by the Federal system and the independence of state governors
The Imperial College prediction if the USA did sfa is over 2 million deaths

• How many governors are sensible, of whichever party and how many will follow Trump's Social Darwinism ?

www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-latest-us-can-expect-100000-to-200000-deaths/a-52949066

So the Tory tabs that led with BJ's "It'll all be over in twelve weeks" have for some reason chosen not to put Disinjenrick's 'clarification' of that on the front page in extra big letters and have, for some reason, chosen to go with Harry & Megs.

Odd, that.

amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/29/government-set-to-cap-university-admissions-amid-covid-19-chaos?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other&__twitter_impression=true
Government set to cap university admissions amid Covid-19 chaos
Exclusive: Strict limits on student numbers could avoid admissions free-for-all

UK university campuses are closed and teaching has moved online. To avoid certain universities hoovering up domestic students to fill their courses, leaving other, less prestigious institutions with empty lecture theatres, the pain will be spread through the introduction of a cap, it is understood.

“Unless there are significant developments, this will happen,” said one policymaker involved in the discussions between the government and universities.

The imposition of a cap means that students currently going through the application process are set to have their choices restricted. It also means some students will not be able to attend universities at which they have been offered place.

The policy was backed by the board of Universities UK at a virtual meeting held on Friday, although it was strongly opposed by some leading universities, including several members of the Russell Group of research-intensive institutions

BBC reporting that the government is cracking down on misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic. A rapid response unit within the Cabinet Office is working with social media firms to remove fake news and harmful content.

Shame there wasn't a similar antipathy for online fake news during either the referendum or recent election. Seems that, when desired, it is possible to monitor and remove such content.

government is cracking down on misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic. A rapid response unit within the Cabinet Office is working with social media firms to remove fake news and harmful content.

Is that where Dodgy Dom was running to? Or from?

I am amused at being accused of doom mongering by saying some restrictions will still be in place in 12 months and this will be a long haul. Apparently that's too pessimistic and we should be much more upbeat.

This is despite government advisors having said this being likely in some way.

The whole timescale thing is something that people are burying heads in the sand about and saying 'no that can't happen. We won't stand for it'. And that experts haven't said this. Reality is somewhat different.

Take away the death and economic ruin bit and this live human psychology experiment is utterly intriguing and fascinating.